the musculation

A well-rounded fitness program must contain all major components of fitness including flexibility, muscular strength and muscular endurance. Muscular endurance is necessary for both athletes and recreational exercisers. Most major sports and recreational fitness activities rely on adequate levels of muscular endurance for successful performance.

The Facts

The ability of a muscle to perform repeated contractions without fatigue is muscular endurance. There are two types of muscle fibers in the body that assist in muscular contractions. The muscle fibers that assist in endurance exercise are slow-twitch muscle fibers, which have the ability to maintain repeated muscle contractions over various lengths of time. Fast-twitch muscle fibers in the body are responsible for great amounts of force but only for a short period of time.

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Endurance & Activity

Sports and activities such as rowing, tennis, cycling and step aerobics all require good muscular endurance. Activities of daily living such as vacuuming, washing the dishes and taking the stairs also depend on slow-twitch muscle fibers and muscular endurance for successful completion.

Types

The three types of muscular endurance are continuous tension, repetitive dynamic contraction and prolonged intense contraction. Continuous tension contraction is a very slow or static contraction; examples include isometric contractions and poses practiced in certain forms of yoga. Repetitive dynamic contraction is a repeated contraction such as the actions found in cycling or rowing. The final type of muscle endurance, prolonged intense contraction, consists of long periods of muscle contractions followed by long periods of rest. Examples of sports and activities that involve prolonged intense muscle contractions include basketball, soccer and circuit training exercise.

Benefits

Improving muscular endurance provides benefits beyond improved muscular strength. Regular muscular endurance training improves body composition by burning fat. The cardiovascular system improves by increased respiration, which improves heart function. A program of muscular endurance also improves bone mass, increases the strength of connective tissue and decreases the chance of injury.

Training

The goal of any endurance training program is to improve muscle's ability to perform repeated contractions over an extended period of time. Muscular endurance training contributes minimally to increased size and strength of muscle. Fitness programs designed to improve muscular strength should include all major muscle groups and work the muscle through its full range of motion. A repetition range between 10 and 15 repetitions will improve the endurance capacity of a muscle.